halloween 2018

We had a fun Halloween this year.  We carved pumpkins, ate yummy pumpkin seeds, we had  ward trunk or treat, the schools had parties and parades, and of course, there is the actual Halloween night.  The kids had a blast.  It was a fun year!

 

 

Mary was a lifeguard zombie.  She went to a party this year instead of trick or treating.

Luke was a skeleton army guy.  He and Tucker trick or treated until their bags literally got too heavy for them to carry.  They were so much fun and they were hilarious.  They really wanted to become "professional trick or treaters."  I think they succeeded.

Molly was a unicorn.  She had a ton of fun with her preschool friend Charlie, who was also a unicorn.

the text Sam sent me the morning of Halloween.  hahahaha!!!!

The dog ate Molly's unicorn horn the morning of Halloween. gggrrr
Luckily, Molly has about three spares..

Sam was a crash dummy and William was a shadow man.  I have spent the last 30 minutes trying to find the pictures I took of them, but for some reason they aren't showing up on my phone.  I did take pictures of them though.

They both had a great time!  Sam went trick or treating with his friends, and came away with a ridiculous amount of candy! 

I stayed home and handed out candy, and then I drove Luke and Tucker around when they were too tired to walk anymore. haha!!!

Happy Halloween!

randoms

I always have random pictures on my phone that I want to document, but that don't need a huge post.  Here are some from the last bunch.


Yesterday, we were burning the weeds, and Luke and Tucker got all dressed up like fireman, and got a bunch of water bottles.  The second the weeds were burned to the ground, they would run in and pour water all over the pile.  It was cute, hilarious, and awesome all at the same time! haha

The movie "Benji" was on Netflix, and I was positive that Molly would love it!  Its all about a dog that is abandoned and then turns into a hero and becomes part of a family.  She bawled through the whole thing, to the point we had to turn it off.  She couldn't handle the dog being abandoned.  It was one of the saddest yet sweetest things I have ever seen.

Luke lost his very first tooth two days ago!!  He was so brave and let Ben pull it out.  I found him at the table crying before Ben pulled it out.  I asked him what was wrong, and he tearfully told me that he felt like, "he was losing a friend."  Heart. melted. 
I reassured him that he could put the tooth in a bag and that the toothfairy would let him keep his friend forever if he wanted to.  He is such a sweet boy.

Charlie was watching the movie too.  Good grief!

Juliet came to visit and Hazel came with her.  Luke and Hazel are the same age.  They have only seen eachother a few times, because they live in Alaska, but they hit it off instantly.  They played and played and played for two solid days.  I LOVE it when my kids can bond with their cousins.

Ever since Luke was stung in the neck, twice at the same time, a few years ago, he has been terrified of bees!    By some horrible turn of luck, he was stung twice in the eye at the end of this summer.  This poor kid must taste as sweet as he is.

I had to do a fast grocery run.  This happened to be what the kids looked like at the time.  Mary was mortified, I was amused.  Good times.  Mullet Molly, ninja luke, stinky football William, mortified Mary.

big buddy plays football

William just completed his first season of tackle football, and he LOVED IT!

William played right tackle most of the season.  He had some great quarter back sacks and some nice tackles as well.

William learned a ton about how the game works, and about how he can utilize his personal talents and abilities.

I have been wondering the whole season why William wasn't in a position to utilize his speed.  FINALLY, on the last practice, the team had a bunch of races, and the coaches realized that William was the fastest one on the team.  HELLO!  What has this momma been saying for months! 

He did great this season in his position though, and he had a great time.  I can't wait for next season when the coaches will utilize his strength AND his speed.  He will be a rockstar! Go Wasatch!

William up against a HUGE Xman

benny boo turns 37

Ben's Birthday was a few weeks ago.  His mom was able to come spend the weekend, so that was an added bonus.  I think it was fun for Ben to have his mom here for his special day.

We had a busy day with Sam's last soccer game, and William's Football playoff game, but we still had fun.

We went to a bounce house the day before, and went out to dinner with everyone.  I am pretty sure that pizza pie café is now our kids restaurant version of Disneyland!

We had fun watching the kids games, and we went out to dinner again on his actual Birthday.  I made him his favorite Chocolate cake, and we all just hung out together that evening.

Ben is going on his 11th year with Cintas, and is an excellent sales rep.  He is really into downhill biking, and he does competitions through the spring and summer.  He is still very much in to snow skiing as well, and like to do some competitions there too.  He is active, healthy, and doing his best to be able to stay in good health and shape in order to do what he loves.  He is currently working with the scouts in our ward.  He is an amazing dad and a loving and faithful husband.  We are all so grateful for this day 37 years ago when he came in to this world.

i got cut

About 4 months ago, I went in to Dr. Davis for ANOTHER cortisone shot.  My leg was killing me again, and it was worse than ever.  Dr. Davis gave me the shot, but it was in a different place.  I told him that I felt like my leg was worse, but he didn't seem too concerned.  He pulled up my 18 month old scans to base his diagnosis off if. 

Basically, I wasn't a fan of that appointment, and I was definitely losing trust in my doctor.

The shot did not work, and I was in so much pain.  I couldn't run anymore without paying dearly for it.  Ben heard about a doctor down at the U named Dr. Maak, who was supposed to be awesome with torn labrums, so I made an appointment with him.

The appointment was amazing!!!  He took one scan, and diagnosed me with extra bone on the head of my femur and a torn labrum.  The extra bone was so bad, that my hip was not able to fully swing in and out of the socket like it was supposed to.  I didn't not have range of motion, and every time I used that joint, I had bone smacking bone.  I needed surgery, and finally, it was not a question, and I had no doubts. 

No THAT is an amazing Orthopedic surgeon.  He was nice, funny, informative, experienced, and easily convinced me to get a surgery that I had been putting off for 3 years.  It took one appointment with him, and my surgery was scheduled.

Knowing I needed surgery came easy, after talking to Dr. Maak, but it does not mean that I didn't panic every single day leading up to it.  I just did not want to have to be held back, and to not be able to run.  I was worried about being able to take of my family and my home.  I was worried about getting all lazy and fat and out of shape.  I was worried about everything.

The day finally came, and the surgery went really well.  I was in loads of pain when I woke up, and it took a good 2 hours for them to get it under control.  That was pretty terrible.  The nurses were awesome, my surgeon kept Ben informed the whole time, the surgery was done 45 minutes earlier than planned, and I was just so amazed with the whole experience.  It was not fun, and it was very painful, but the staff at the surgical center was so, so good.

The next few days were hard, as far as pain control.  I quickly got sick of the crutches, and having to sleep in one position all night long.

My mom came a few days later, and she ended up staying for two weeks.  She absolutely SAVED us!  She cooked, she cleaned, she got kids to and from their activities, she helped me get pain meds, get to appointments, she was a listening ear, she was a great friend to have around all day, she was everything we all needed.  I would not have survived without her.

I was very surprised with how quickly I was able to get around without crutches.  I was off of them by week 2.  I had horrific spasms of my hip muscles though, that literally took me to the ground.  They were the worst of the worst of the entire experience so far.  I still get them every once in a while, and they take me down.

I am now 6 weeks out from surgery.  I am doing physical therapy every day along with an hour on the bike.  I have been trying and trying to get on the elliptical, but every time I do, I get a hip spasm and it shuts me down.  I did, however, make it 25 minutes on the elliptical yesterday.  I was absolutely beaming the entire time!  I felt like I was on top of the world!

I am healing up exactly as planned, and I am progressing right at where I should be.  Dr. Maak says I am doing great too.  I just get so frustrated though, because I want to do more than I can.  The better I feel, the more I feel like I should be doing, but them my leg freaks out and reminds me that I have to try to take things more slowly.  It can be so frustrating, but I keep looking toward being able to not only run pain free for the first time in three years, but to actually walk with full range of motion in my hip for the first time since I can even remember.

incision site. (the upper side of my thigh)  I had laparoscopic surgery, so I just have three tiny scars now.

drugs baby!

ouch ouch and more ouch!!!

Dr. Maak rocks!

cringe!

As of right now, I am happy I had the surgery, because I hope that things will be better than ever before.  I am not even close to 100%, but at least I can walk, bike, and take care of my family and my home.  I will call that a win at the moment!

labor day hike

This Labor Day, we decided to do a nice big hike.  And it was a BIG hike, at least for our family, and all of the different ages of everyone.

The kids did amazingly well, and we made it a little over 4 miles.  The scenery was gorgeous, and the kids had a great time.  We also brought Charlie.  It was his first hike, and he was so happy.  It was really fun to see him be able to just run and play to his heart's content.

I always wish we could hike and camp more, and I am sure we will as our family gets a little older.  Being out in these mountains reminds us again and again with how blessed we are to live here in this beautiful place we get to call home.

this picture cracks us up!